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With the recent allegations of Oklahoma State’s current head football coach making racist comments toward his players, along with wearing a t-shirt supporting a propaganda alt-right television network, Gundy was forced to make a public apology that some perceived as tone deaf.
What was lost in trying to dismiss Chuba Hubbard’s effort towards equality at OSU, was a story that resurfaced from his coach’s playing days three decades prior. Gundy, a senior quarterback at Oklahoma State, was accused of using racial slurs towards several Colorado Buffaloes during a game on Nov. 11, 1989.
The original news report published in the St. Louis Dispatch by Jim Thomas detailed the events between Gundy and the Buffs:
“Gundy upset the Buffaloes by allegedly directing racial slurs at several black CU players. According to Colorado free safety Tim James, Gundy called several Buffaloes ‘N***ers.’ ‘I can’t count the number of times he used that word,’ James said.”
Among those players to go on the record was Alfred Williams. The College Football Hall of Famer said “I hope not very many people raise their children to be like him.”
“It’s not true,” Gundy told Thomas after the game. “They were doing the talking. Why would I say those things? I’ve been here four years and half my friends (on the team) are black. It makes no sense.” Gundy went on to say the Buffaloes made derogatory remarks about his mother during the game. He also told reporters to “Go to Sports Illustrated and you’ll see that Colorado has gone face-to-face with everything. Rapes, assaults. Everything.”
Williams never forgot about Gundy's comments either.
"I recall vividly Alfred being angry about what Gundy said,” former CU quarterback Charles Johnson told Ralphie Report on Wednesday. "I know it bothered him through the years because he (Alfred) would bring up at times with continued anger & disgust."
Williams reaffirmed those comments on his radio show Wednesday by denouncing Gundy’s continued racist rhetoric, adding that Gundy’s act was the only time he was called those slurs in his life.
“I couldn’t believe it. There’s no walking that back. This story’s been out there for 31 years. I didn’t back down then, I don’t back down now. Every time I see him, I just want to run through him. Every time I see his face, every time I look at him, I want to run through him. I’m 51 years old — why in the world do I need to lie about that?”
Many advocates outside of CU took a stand against Gundy, including NFL legend Shannon Sharpe. The Fox Sports commentator was teammates with Williams during the Denver Broncos back-to-back Super Bowl runs in the late 1990s. On Wednesday’s “Undisputed” show, Sharpe recalled a conversation with Williams about that CU-OSU game from 1989. In a near narration of Williams, Sharpe said, “We were getting after ‘em and I sacked him (Gundy) and he called me ‘N’.” Williams said he blurted out to the media in the locker room, “Mike Gundy called me N – and he actually said the word.”
.@ShannonSharpe discusses his call with Alfred Williams, who was reportedly on the receiving end of a racial comment made by Mike Gundy when they were both college players in 1989 pic.twitter.com/EFIPxVrjdi
— UNDISPUTED (@undisputed) June 17, 2020
Gundy has yet to respond to the situation.